Tom
by Ebenbild
Summary: Have you ever wondered about Tom, the innkeeper of The Leaking Cauldron? What did he do when Harry had his adventure? Which side was he on and who did he help? So let's meet Tom and the secret that even Dumbledore doesn't know.
1. Speaking with an empty room

_**Disclaimer: **__Harry Potter belongs to Rowling. I just played with some of her characters. I will give them back (nearly) unharmed._

_**Information: **__I start the story in third year. There will be some major time skips because I will just tell the important things that happen to my main character. I'm not changing anything in the normal plot of the Harry Potter series. This is just a story about a random character and its part in the war._

_I'm not a native speaker so sorry for my mistakes. It would be great to tell me my major ones so that I can get better._

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**Tom**

_1. Speaking with an empty room_

His name was Tom. No-one ever asked anything further. His name was Tom, innkeeper. He was the owner of _The Leaking Cauldron. _There was nothing more to it. He was bald, he had no teeth and he had a crooked posture. There was nothing more to that silent man, who seemed to be old as hills.

So there was no-one ever asking anything about him. The common wizard greeted him before entering Diagon Alley, sometimes they would stop and have a non-saying chat with him. Some of them would book one of his rooms or eat in his inn.

The powerful wizards were a little bit different though. Tom wasn't a very good wizard. He was able to do some cleaning spells or other ones that would come handy for an inn. But he definitely never had been to Hogwarts, so he could not be a very powerful wizard… so the most powerful, good wizards just looked down on his abilities.

Dark and powerful wizards instead mostly ignored him. When there was Grindelwald, he never thought about that old inn which guarded the entrance of Diagon Alley and when there was Voldemort for the first time, he did the same. The innkeeper never officially worked on one side of the war and so he was a risk taken by both sides.

But most of the wizards never saw that risk at all.

They came, they talked, they walked away, never aware of the eavesdropping ears behind the counter, never aware of the sealed lips and the sharp eyes watching.

But sometimes there were times when the innkeeper would change his behaviour. Sometimes the sealed lips would speak wisdom, the sharp eyes would turn blind and the eavesdropping ears would get deaf. And sometimes the everlasting innkeeper would change his place with another person.

"You are taking too much risk, my dear one." The innkeeper said one evening in the summer. He had his eyes on the glasses in his cupboard so that no-one could see the normally inconspicuous blue eyes glimmer in the dark. It was just out of habit that he was looking away. The inn was empty. No human being had crossed it's doorstep for the last three hours. Just a black, bony dog had entered the inn half an hour ago.

The old innkeeper had welcomed it with some water and some meat.

"You should take a different road. You could use your memories and convince them. The young Dumbledore would hear you out, I'm sure about it." Tom, the innkeeper said while searching for a glass to polish it.

All his glasses where shining, but that didn't stop the old innkeeper from polishing each of them again.

The dog had started to look at Tom when he started to speak.

"Yes, I'm talking to you, my dear." Tom said and gestured to a chair at the counter. "Come and sit down. You look like you need a break."

Now the dog's behaviour turned wary of the old man. Distrust started to show in its eyes.

"Don't look at me like that." The innkeeper sighted. "When you want, I can lock the door. The next guest will not come for a while so I thought now is the best time to talk to you. And don't worry. I know who you are and I know what you did – or should I say didn't?"

The dog stood up and came nearer but it still hesitated.

"Now, now, my boy. Where is your Gryffindor courage? There is no way Sirius Black is wary of an old man without a wand."

When Tom said this, the dog growled and changed. Where the dog stood before, now a man in prison clothing was.

The innkeeper wasn't impressed at all. Instead of that he put down the glass he had been working on and searched for a bottle of whiskey which he poured into it.

After that he pushed it to the man in front of the counter.

"How did you know?" The man croaked, still wary of the innkeeper.

"I simply knew." The other one replied. "You shouldn't go after your prey. Show them your memories. Go to young Dumbledore for help. Do anything but that."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sirius Black said stubbornly.

"You know as good as I."

"No, enlighten me, please."

Tom sighted again after these words. He knew his advice would be heard by deaf ears but he wanted to try anyway.

"I don't have to enlighten you." He said. "But I will tell you a story I heard years ago."

"A story?!" The younger man raised one of his eyebrows.

"Yes, a story" The innkeeper replied before starting with said tale.

"Thirteen years ago there were three people in this room. One of them a dog, one of them a stage, and one… a lily." He started his tale. "The stage and the lily wanted to hide some… thing from… a snake. The dog should be the one to hide it. He refused because he knew the snake would search it by him at first. So he convinced the stage and the lily to hide the… thing with the rat… It was the wrong choice and now the dog is after the rat."

After he ended the man stayed silence.

"I would testify for you." Tom whispered. It was an offer he didn't do lightly.

"You would?"

"I would."

"I will not take your offer."

Tom had known that this answer would come.

"You should sleep it over." He said. "And you should visit your godson. Maybe after that you will take it." Tom knew his words would not change the man's mind. He also knew that seeing his godson wouldn't change anything. Still, he had to try. Because sometimes just a little action would change something. He would not be able to change this choice of the man in front of him, but he would change the focus of the man a little bit. Until now, the man had just been driven by revenge. But maybe, when he saw his godson he would at least think about him when his hunt was over.

"I will have to leave now. I'm here far too long." The other one answered.

"Then finish your drink." The innkeeper answered while clicking his finger against the glass.

"I thought you would press for it more."

"There is no way to change your mind." The innkeeper replied. "To get you to stay and sleep over it I would have to drug you."

"Maybe."

"So when I tell you that the aurors of the ministry started looking for you in muggle London and that they will catch you when you leave now is enough to convince you to stay?"

"No." Sirius replied.

"I thought so." Tom answered and tipped again against the drink. "Drink up then, lad." The younger man obeyed.

"Thank you for letting me stay." He said after that while standing up and changing.

"You should come again when you have nowhere to stay." The innkeeper replied while watching the dog. The animal nodded and walked to the door. It still hadn't reached it when it suddenly started to sway. A few steps more and its legs gave away. Within a few seconds it was lying on the floor sleeping.

"I'm sorry, my dear one." Tom said to the sleeping dog while letting it with a simple gesture flow to a dark corner of the room. "But I think this is the best for you in the moment." With that he washed the used glass and started to polish it, after it was clean. He polished it thoroughly and then shattered it on the counter.

The pieces of the glad vanished into thin air and the glittering blue eyes of the innkeeper became inconspicuous blue again. The faint sense of magic that came from the dog-wizard and the performed magic of the innkeeper and that still lingered in the air vanished.

And while the aurors of the ministry where checking every street of London, searching for the slightest sense of magic, the wizard they were searching lay sleeping and save in the corner of the inn, unaware of the help he had been given by the old innkeeper of _The Leaking Cauldron._

In the afternoon finally an auror entered the inn and searched there also for suspicious traces of magic.

"Has there been something unusual today?" He asked Tom.

"Just business like usual, my dear." The innkeeper replied.

"Has anyone used magic in here today?"

"There were a few _accio, _a _lumos _and some flooing but nothing more." Tom replied while watching the auror who searched the room.

"The dog?"

"Is a street dog. It comes from time to time to sleep in the corner. I've been watching it for years."

The auror still searched the sleeping animal for any traces of magic, but there were non. "No animagi then" The auror whispered. "Of course not." Tom sighted. "I thought you were looking for Black. He isn't an animagi, is he?"

"No, but better save then sorry." The other one replied while performing an _animagus revelio _on the animal. Nothing happened.

"Like I said, just a street dog." Tom said shrugging.

"Yes." The other one replied and started to look around more. But as much as he was searching, he found nothing else than a sleeping dog and a nearly Squib behind the counter.

"Good day, my dear." Tom wished the auror when he left. And when the door finally closed the inconspicuous blue eyes of the innkeeper suddenly started again to glow in the dark of the inn. "Come and visit again."

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_What do you think? How do you like Tom and Sirius? Are they ok?_


	2. A special whiskey

_And a second chapter. This time it's dear Fudge to visit. It's still summer in year three._

_**Disclaimer: **__all JKR's, not mine…_

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**2. A special whiskey**

There were not a lot of passages between the muggle and the magical world. And there were even less which were easy to reach. One of the easiest was _The Leaking Cauldron _in London. Nearly every witch and wizard knew this entrance to Diagon Alley. So nearly every wizard knew Tom, the innkeeper. And of course Tom knew nearly every wizard and he also knew all the stuff that was happening in both worlds: the muggle one and the magical one.

So when little, thirteen year old Harry blew up his aunt, Minister Fudge went to _The Leaking Cauldron. _

Tom had known that the minister would visit. He also knew beforehand that the minister came to look for the missing boy. Of course, no-one had told him the minister would come. And of course no-one had also told him, that the boy-who-lived went missing. But he knew that something was amiss and so he was not at all surprised when the minister entered his inn.

And when he did, Tom knew he would have to calm down the minister. There was no way that the nearly petrified man would find the boy now.

"Minister Fudge" Tom greeted and the Minister startled.

"Tom" He finally said while still scanning every inch of the empty inn as if the boy would be hiding in one of Tom's glasses.

"What brings you here, my dear" The innkeeper asked.

"I was looking for someone" Fudge answered but wasn't willed to say more. Tom knew this reluctant behaviour. He had seen it a lot of times on different people. The minister wanted to share but was afraid of the reaction of the other. But there was an instrument to get the nervous man to speak.

"You like a drink, Minister?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, Tom. I have no time to…"

"Just one whiskey, my dear one, there is always time for a whiskey." With that, the innkeeper turned and fetched one of his best whiskeys. One of his special whiskeys. He had few of them, each of them for a special customer. Each of them used just a few times. There were different brands of each special whiskey and he picked one for the minister. He knew the minister liked this particular brand so when he showed the bottle to the other person, he knew he had won.

"But just a glass" The minister said, still looking around. "After that I will be on my way again."

"Maybe there will be no need to go on, my dear" Tom answered and filled a glass. "Take your time, minister. There is no rush today."

The minister eyed him suspiciously but said nothing. Instead he sat down and took his whiskey. He took it and started to drown it but stopped in the middle of the action. He blinked and stared at the whiskey. Tom said nothing, instead he started to polish his shining glasses. He watched the minister staring at the glass and finally starting to savour his drink. Tom grinned. He waited a few mouthful of whiskey until he started to speak again.

"You seem to have a lot on your mind, minister" He said.

"I have" The other one answered. "There is Black on the run, there is Harry who went missing a few hours ago…"

Nothing new for the innkeeper but it wasn't the first time he heard a story again and it wouldn't definitely the last time for him.

"The boy will show up again, minister. Do not worry about that."

"The question is: how will he look, when he shows up again. With Black on the run there…"

"The boy will be fine. Do not think otherwise." The innkeeper reassured the worried man.

"But…"

"Drink up, minister, and look for yourself. I'm sure the boy will be back safe in no time." Tom said, knowing the minister wouldn't believe him now. But he would believe him later.

The minister starred at him after these words, then he drowned the rest of his whiskey and stood up. Tom followed him when he started to leave the inn.

"You will tell me if Harry Potter…" The minister started and stopped midsentence when suddenly the _Knight-_Bus stopped in front of the inn.

Tom grinned when he saw Harry leaving the bus. He said nothing and just watched while the minister greeted the boy.

"Back to business" He thought. "Back to business as usual." The waiting time for the boy was over.

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_So, how do you like "my" Fudge?_


End file.
